pat
/pæt/ noun, verb, adjective, adverb, proper noun
Forms pats patting patted
- noun The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep. “We heard a pat on the door.”
- noun A light tap or slap, especially with the hands. “Give Mary a pat on the shoulder to get her attention.”
- noun A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung.
- verb To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing. “To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.”
- verb To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat “I patted the cookie dough into shape.”
- verb (UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) To stroke or fondle (an animal). Compare pet. “Do you want to pat the cat?”
- verb To gently rain.
- adjective Exactly suitable, fitting, apt; timely, convenient, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken. “a pat expression”
- adjective Trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality.
- adverb Opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.
- adverb Perfectly. “He has the routine down pat.”
- adverb Straight, right, exactly, precisely.
- adjective (slang) Upper-class, nobby.
- proper noun A diminutive of the female given name Patricia.
- proper noun A diminutive of the male given name Patrick.
- noun (slang, possibly offensive) An Irish person.
- proper noun A surname from Khmer or Yucatec Maya.
Synonyms
banal bathetic bromidic cheesy stock clichéd commonplace corny dog-eared hackneyed hoary overdone overused overworked played out shopworn stale threadbare timeworn tired rap tap dab chuck glib slick
Etymology
From Middle English pat (“a blow, stroke”), alteration (with loss of medial l) of *plat (> Scots plat (“a blow, buffet”)), from Old English plætt (“a sounding blow, a smack”), from Proto-West Germanic *platt (“a smack, slap, blow”), from Proto-Germanic *plat- (“to strike, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *blod-, *bled- (“to strike, beat”). Cognate with Middle Dutch plat (“a smack, blow, slap”), Middle Low German plat (“a smack, blow, beating”), Middle High German plaz, blaz (“a resounding blow, bang, crash”). For loss of l, compare patch for platch; pate for plate, etc. See plat.
From Middle English *patten, alteration (with loss of medial l) of platten, pletten (“to pat”), from Old English plættan (“to buffet, strike, slap, smack, give a sounding blow”), from Proto-West Germanic *plattjan, from Proto-Germanic *plat- (“to strike, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *blod-, *bled- (“to strike, beat”). Cognate with Middle Dutch platten, pletten (“to strike, bruise, crush, rub”), German platzen (“to split, burst, break up”), Bavarian patzen (“to pat”), Swedish plätta, pjätta (“to pat, tap”). For loss of l, compare patch for platch; pate for plate, etc. See plat.
Clipping of patrician.
* Borrowed from Yucatec Maya Pat. This surname is mostly found in Yucatán.
* Borrowed from Khmer.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To strike gently with the fingers or hand; to stroke lightly; to tap; as, to pat a dog. Gay pats my shoulder, and you vanish quite. Pope.
- noun A light, quik blow or stroke with the fingers or hand; a tap.
- noun A small mass, as of butter, shaped by pats.
- adjective Exactly suitable; fit; convenient; timely. "Pat allusion." Barrow.
Etymology [Cf. G. patschen, Prov. G. patzen, to strike, tap.]
Etymology [Cf. pat a light blow, D. te pas convenient, pat, where pas is fr. F. passer to pass.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pat”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details